Inside This Issue...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announces that the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) will hold a committee meeting Sept. 9, 2008, from noon to 4 p.m EDT at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Quorum Room, 480 L’Enfant Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20024. The meeting is open to the public. View the Aug. 25 Federal Register notice for more information.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a final rule in the Aug. 18, 2008, Federal Register concerning Insurer Reporting Requirements. This final rule amends 49 CFR part 544, Insurer Reporting Requirements. This Part specifies the requirements for annual insurer reports and lists in appendices those passenger motor vehicle insurers that are required to file reports on their motor vehicle theft loss experiences. An insurer included in any of these appendices must file three copies of its report for the 2005 calendar year before Oct. 25, 2008. If the passenger motor vehicle insurers remain listed, they must submit reports by each subsequent Oct. 25. This final rule becomes effective on Sept. 17, 2008. If you wish to submit a petition for reconsideration of this rule, your petition must be received by Oct. 2, 2008. View the Aug. 18 Federal Register notice for more details.

A final rule, issued Aug. 18, 2008, amends Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations to exempt portions of a new system of records entitled the ‘‘Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Pattern Analysis and Information Collection (ICEPIC) System’’ from certain provisions of the Privacy Act. Specifically, the Department exempts portions of the ICEPIC system from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act because of criminal, civil and administrative enforcement requirements. This final rule became effective Aug. 18, 2008. More details are available in the Aug. 18 Federal Register notice.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announces and requests public comment on data and information concerning the Pre-Authority Safety Audits (PASAs) for motor carriers that have applied to participate in the agency’s project to demonstrate the ability of Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate safely in the United States beyond the commercial zones on the U.S.-Mexico border. This action is required by the "U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007." Comments must be received on or before Aug. 27, 2008. View the Aug. 12, 2008 Federal Register notice for more information.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced in the July 30, 2008, Federal Register the availability of four additional documents concerning hours of service (HOS) for commercial motor vehicle drivers. FMCSA published an interim final rule on this issue in the Dec. 17, 2007, Federal Register. The agency now dockets the supplemental documents. View the July 30 Federal Register for further information about this additional documentation.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposes to discontinue its current requirement that applicants seeking authority to transport passengers over regular routes submit a detailed description and a map of the route(s) over which they propose to operate. FMCSA would register such carriers as regular-route carriers without requiring designation of specific regular routes and fixed end-points. Once these regular-route motor carriers have obtained operating authority from FMCSA, they would no longer need to seek additional FMCSA approval in order to change or add routes. FMCSA believes that eliminating the need to file and process multiple requests concerning routes this action will decrease the paperwork burden on regular-route motor carriers seeking to expand or change their routes without compromising safety. It will also decrease the agency’s own paperwork burden. Each registered regular-route motor carrier of passengers would continue to be subject to the full safety oversight and enforcement program of FMCSA and its state and local partners. FMCSA must receive your comments by Sept. 22, 2008. View the Aug. 7, 2008 Federal Register notice for more details.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will forward an Information Collection Request (ICR) entitled, "Demonstration of Speed Management Programs; Including Automated and Traditional Enforcement" to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period was published on Feb. 4, 2008. No comments on this notice were received. NHTSA proposes to conduct a series of telephone surveys to examine the effectiveness of a speed management research and demonstration program in the city of Tucson, Ariz. Comments are invited on whether the proposed collection of information is necessary or the proper performance of the functions of the department, including whether the information will have practical utility; the accuracy of the department’s estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. A Comment to OMB is most effective if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication (Aug. 8, 2008). View the Aug. 8 Federal Register notice for more details.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chertoff spoke on the balance between privacy and secure identity Aug. 13, 2008, at the University of Southern California National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events. He addressed crimes involving identity theft, identity validation and authentication, the associated financial costs, the effect on illegal workers, the universe of tools available for identity management and possible solutions that address the concerns of privacy advocates. Read more on the DHS Web site.

The Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) Plan Board of Directors holds its next public meeting, Sept. 4, 2008, from noon to 3:00 p.m. (EDT). The meeting will take place telephonically. Any interested person may call Mr. Avelino Gutierrez at (505) 827-4565 to receive the toll-free number and passcode needed to participate in this meeting. In this meeting, the UCR Board will continue its work in developing and implementing the UCR Plan and Agreement. For further information, contact Mr. Avelino Gutierrez, chair, Unified Carrier Registration Board of Directors at (505) 827-4565.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is concurrently establishing a new system of records pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 entitled the Technical Fraud Detection and National Security Data System (FDNS–DS). The USCIS has developed the FDNS–DS, a case management system used to record, track, and manage immigration inquiries, investigative referrals, law enforcement requests, and case determinations involving benefit fraud, criminal activity, public safety and national security concerns. In this proposed rulemaking, DHS proposes to exempt portions of this system of records from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act because of criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement requirements. Comments must be received on or before Sept. 17, 2008. For more information, view the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Aug. 18 Federal Register.

The House introduced The Surface Transportation Safety Act of 2008 (HR 6757) on July 31, 2008. The bill is intended to direct the Secretary of Transportation to carry out programs and activities to improve highway safety. The bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit on Aug. 1, 2008. View the text of the legislation for more details.

AAMVA has endorsed the National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 19-25, 2008) sponsored by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm.  AAMVA members participated in the formative research conducted by the Young Driver Research Initiative (YDRI) to develop unique tools to help teens, parents, schools, and youth-serving organizations address the deadly combination of new teen drivers and peer passengers. Already more than 1,100 teen driver stakeholders and 765 teens have contributed their wisdom and experience to help CHOP better understand what communities need to implement successful teen driver safety campaigns. Early tools for recruiting students and partners to help with local campaigns are available at http://www.chop.edu/ntdsw. The complete set of download-ready tools, courtesy of CHOP and State Farm, will be available on Sept. 10, giving youth-led and youth-serving groups six-weeks to plan campaigns in their communities. Be sure to sign up for a train-the-trainer Webinar, hosted by the Driver Education and Training Association (DETA), to be held on Sept. 10 at 3 p.m. EST. During this Webinar, CHOP will explain their formative research results and how to get the most out of the toolkit. To receive an e-mailed link to sign up for the Webinar, contact Karen Holm at holmk@email.chop.edu. While CHOP will be introducing campaign-specific URLs for National Teen Driver Safety Week, organizers can always link to this information via www.chop.edu/ntdsw.

AAMVA University has posted its training schedule for the rest of 2008 on the training portal at http://aamva.webroom.com. Starting on Sept. 9, all course offerings will be available before the end of the year, including; basic/advanced Commercial Driver's License Information System (CDLIS) courses, Problem Driver Pointer System (PDPS), Fraudulent Early Warning System (FEWS), Unified Network Interface (UNI), and National Motor Vehicle Titling Information System (NMVTIS). Here is your chance to get new staff up to speed on all these applications with our basic courses, and, for those who need advanced training, we have number of new courses such as "Error Detection and Resolution" and "3 Year Calculations of Serious Violations." All of our courses are presented via the Web with live instructors and subject matter experts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2-4p.m. EST. Courses are free for all jurisdiction members (including DMV, law enforcement, helpdesk and IT, and court personnel). Please visit our training portal, register on the site and self-enroll into any course. If you have questions or need assistance please contact trainer@aamva.org.

If you haven't already done so, please respond to the following surveys. Pennsylvania and Missouri appreciate your input:

• Outsourcing Skills/Road Tests (Ends 09/02/2008)
• CDL Scheduling (Ends 08/28/2008)